Life, blackjack and beyond.

Retro Report #32 April 2014

April 21, 2014

So, I had an almost two month hiatus from AC which culminated in my returning there 5 weeks ago for a 2500 win.
I then took another two weeks off before returning for three consecutive weeks (and likely heading there this weekend for a BJ tournament and the Pet Shop Boys concert)
Here is a recap of the lows and highs of the past three weeks…

Three weeks ago:

Friday evening started out nice – played a few shoes with not much to write home about other than being +1k by the end of the night
I was feeling good
Then the sun rose…

The “Saturday swoon” occurred throughout the day…
Here are the lowlights…

On three consecutive shoes, the dealer had the following:
7 naturals
5 naturals
7 naturals

Throughout the course of Saturday’s play, I won a mere 3 out of 25 double downs/splits

On the final hand I put up a pumpkin and was dealt a K,Q
The dealer had a 6 showing and turned over a 3…
I was rooting hard for any ten to come out but, alas, a deuce came out
Now I was rooting equally as hard for anything but a ten to come out
Alas, a 5 came out…
Ok, dealer has a 16 at this point and the past two cards were low…
“COME ON TEN!!!”
This could be the beginning of a beautiful comeback…
Alas, beauty is in the eye of the beholder as the dealer drew a 5 for 21
I had lost the week’s bankroll
I was down 7300 for the weekend which basically made me even for the year…

———

Two weeks ago:

I was not going to go down to AC that weekend but felt a need to redeem myself from the prior week’s disastrous showing…

Day 1 started out nicely – played leisurely and by the time the sandman appeared, I was +2300
The “Saturday swoon” was in the back of my mind as I went to sleep

In the first shoe of the day, pre-breakfast, I had a nice SC and was able to gain a quick 800 before my tummy made noises
I needed sustenance
At this point, I had regained 3100 of the 7300 lost the week prior…things were looking up

Feeling satiated, I embarked on an afternoon of blackjack – the goal, recover the rest of the 7300 lost the week before
I would find out this would be easier said than done…

On the first shoe after breakfast I was destroyed by losing the first 10 hands of the shoe…
Yes, I know I should have left after 5 hands BUT…5 hands equalled 10 hands herein as there were 5 doubles and 5 splits (that is how I counted 10 hands)
I would lose each one, some without drama and other by the dealer drawing cards out of their proverbial ass in order to beat me by 1 (i.e. I split 9,9 v dealer 9 — I was dealt a King and a Queen, respectively — naturally, the dealer turned over an Ace)
I had lost 3k of the 3100 I was up and decided to take a walk around the casino to simmer down

I went back in and quickly regained 900 in ½ shoe by grabbing myself 3 blackjacks and pressing into a good SC

Things were once again looking up…that is, until the next shoe…as before, the doubles and splits came my way in rapid fashion, and took my chips in rapid fashion, draining me of the 900 I had just won

Back to a walk around the casino to cool off and headed to grab lunch…
I grabbed a Green Goodness drink from the gift shop in the hopes the vitamins and minerals would boost my brain power for the road ahead…
Apparently, it worked (lol), as I was once again able to boost myself back up to being ahead 2k
It was at this point that I decided to go take a power nap and a shower and get ready for the evening

{an aside}
When I headed back down to the casino, I ran into a buddy of mine I had known from my Bally’s days…I decided to watch him play…
He plays at a 8D, H17 table because he likes the location (the burlesque dancer area)
He starts out at 25/hand and presses to over 1k/hand (he only plays with green chips, piled high)
He began the run of the year mid-shoe and won approximately 17 hands in a row
He ended this run with 3 straight blackjacks
His total win for the run was over 10k
He said he was heading home—but, about an hour later I saw him playing again (Oh well)

I began playing again, ahead 2k and, with the wind at my back, forged ahead with a quick run up to another 1k…
Isn’t it amazing how the quick hits happen like this…? (I end up running away scared it won’t continue but then sit there through bad variance ughhhhh DISCIPLINE ACE DISCIPLINE!!!)

The weekend ended with my getting 3k of the -7300 back

———

Last weekend

This was a fun weekend as the winning started and didn’t stop…
By Friday night I had won 1500 and thought I would just relax and not play anymore for the weekend—however, upon waking Saturday morning, there was no sense of the “Saturday swoon” and I pressed onward (and upward)
Within 3 shoes I had gained another 1k

I was now up 2500 at this point and it was then that madness broke out in the high limit room

{yet another aside}
Two guys (apparently cousins) came in louder than an AC/DC concert and each threw 25k in cash on two separate tables…why they did not go to the cage and deposit it therein can only be attributed to their wanting even more attention than they were getting
They appeared to be in their late 20’s and likely trust fund babies as one kept stating he was “Born with a golden spoon!”

Once the drinks started flowing, they were playing 5k a hand and tossing black chips at everyone in the high limit room, and I mean everyone (dealers, waitresses, bartenders, pit personnel, passersby and security) – I would say that, in the course of 2 hours, they had thrown around about 5k in tips

However, when they wanted to play above table max (5k), the female pit boss told them “No” – when they asked “Why?” – the pit boss pointed at the table sign and said “The sign says 5000 max” – the guy said he would have to go to Borgata – the pit boss stated back to him “Do what you gotta do”

It was at this point that one of the guys brought out a cashier check for $75k he wanted to sign over to Revel in exchange for chips.
The pit boss referred him to the credit office….
According to the guy, they refused to accept the cashier’s check…
Apparently, though, their host at Borgata would gladly send a limo if they would cash the check over at Borgata…which they did at 8pm

By this time, one of the guys had turned his 25k into 100k
All would be lost for Revel as the guys went down to their limo and rode off into the sunset

I then had dinner and was in a good mood…

I began playing again and got a nice run for a quick 800
I was now up 3300

I took a walk and relaxed watching some acquaintances I know play at a $10min. table

I sat back down again and, as was par for the course this past weekend, got on a nice run and was up another quick 1k

I decided to just relax the rest of the night being up 4300

Now, at the end of three weeks, I went from being down 7300 to back to even and heading there again for a BJ tourn next weekend